2.3. Purchasing Hardware Specifically for GNU/Linux

There are several vendors, who ship systems with Debian or other
distributions of GNU/Linux
pre-installed. You might pay more
for the privilege, but it does buy a level of peace of mind, since you can
be sure that the hardware is well-supported by GNU/Linux.

Whether or not you are purchasing a system with Linux bundled, or even
a used system, it is still important to check that your hardware is
supported by the Linux kernel. Check if your hardware is listed in
the references found above. Let your salesperson (if any) know that
you're shopping for a Linux system. Support Linux-friendly hardware
vendors.

2.3.1. Avoid Proprietary or Closed Hardware

Some hardware manufacturers simply won't tell us how to write drivers
for their hardware. Others won't allow us access to the documentation
without a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent us from
releasing the Linux source code.

Since we haven't been granted access to the documentation on these
devices, they simply won't work under Linux. You can help by asking
the manufacturers of such hardware to release the documentation. If
enough people ask, they will realize that the free software community
is an important market.